The Prisoner of Zenda is a 1979 American comedy film directed by Richard Quine that stars Peter Sellers, Lynne Frederick, Lionel Jeffries, Elke Sommer, Gregory Sierra, Jeremy Kemp, and Catherine Schell.

Sellers also portrayed the aged King Rudoph IV at the start of the film, before he is killed in a hot air balloon accident.

Hansom cab driver Sydney (or Sidney) Frewin, the new King's half-brother from an affair with a British actress, rescues Rudolf from an assassination attempt.

The ruse is quickly uncovered, however, when during an attack by Michael's men the royal guardsmen address Frewin as their new king, and the two look-alikes get acquainted.

[8] When Sellers saw a preview of the film, he objected strenuously, claiming Mirisch had arranged for new footage to be shot without him or Quine turning it into "a Pink Panther movie".

"[12] Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune gave the film 2 stars out of 4 and wrote, "Everything about the Peter Sellers comedy 'Prisoner of Zenda' seems tired.

"[13] Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times called the film an "unhappy spectacle of a capable cast, bedecked with turn-of-the-century finery and placed amid settings of historic Austrian splendor, straining and straining to get laughs out of solid lead (Even Henry Mancini's score seems desperately jaunty.)

"[14] Gary Arnold of The Washington Post wrote "Offhand, I can't recall another comedy with an energy level as disastrously low as the one retarding 'The Prisoner of Zenda.'

"[16] David Ansen of Newsweek wrote "Though the budget supposedly reached $10 million, the film has the slapdash, impersonal feeling of those old studio features that were thrown together as star vehicles and rushed out against a strict deadline.

He may be our greatest comic actor but, unlike comedians who carry a film on the force of their immediately recognizable personality, Sellers's strong suit is his chameleonlike virtuosity, and chameleons are meaningless without a backdrop.